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Assessment of the modulating effects of fructo-oligosaccharides on fecal microbiota using human flora–associated piglets

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Abstract

We first used human flora–associated (HFA) piglets, a significantly improved model for research on human gut microbiota, to study the effects of short-chain fructo-oligosaccharides (scFOS) on the gut bacterial populations. Ten neonatal HFA piglets were assigned to receive basal diets alone or supplemented with scFOS (0.5 g/kg body weight/day) from 1 to 37 days after birth (DAB). The impact of scFOS on the fecal bacterial populations of the piglets before (12 DAB), during (17 DAB), and after (25 and 37 DAB) weaning were monitored by PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and real-time quantitative PCR. The Bifidobacterium genus was stimulated consistently, except during weaning, confirming the bifidogenic property of scFOS. At 12 DAB, the Clostridium leptum subgroup was decreased and two unknown Bacteroides-related species were increased; at 25 DAB, the C. leptum subgroup and Subdoligranulum variabile-like species were elevated, whereas one unknown Faecalibacterium-related species was suppressed; and at 37 DAB, the Bacteroides genus was decreased. The results showed that effects of scFOS on non-bifidobacteria varied at different developmental stages of the animals, warranting further investigation into the host-development-related effects of prebiotics on the gut microbiota and the host physiology using the HFA piglets as a model for humans.

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Acknowledgments

This work was part of a joint collaboration with Nestlé R&D Center Shanghai Ltd. (P Bucheli). It was also partially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China Program Grants 30730005 and 30800155; 973 Program Grants 2007CB513002; International Cooperation Program Grants 2007DFC30450, 075407001 and 075407064, and 2009ZX10004-601.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bioinformatics Center, Key Lab of Molecular Systems Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yueyang Road 320, 200031, Shanghai, China

    Jian Shen & Yixue Li

  2. School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Center for Systems Biomedicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Dongchuan Road 800, 200240, Shanghai, China

    Jian Shen, Baorang Zhang, Hua Wei, Linghua Wang, Xiaoyan Pang & Liping Zhao

  3. Department of Animal Science, College of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Dongchuan Road 800, 200240, Shanghai, China

    Xiuguo Hua

  4. Key Laboratory of Animal Physiology and Biochemistry, Ministry of Agriculture, School of Veterinary Science, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China

    Chuanyan Che

  5. Tyco Clinical Institute, Shanghai, China

    Dezhong Ding

  6. Nestlé Product Technology Center Konolfingen, Nestlé-Strasse 3, 3510, Konolfingen, Switzerland

    Peter Bucheli

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  1. Jian Shen
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  2. Baorang Zhang
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  3. Hua Wei
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  4. Chuanyan Che
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  6. Xiuguo Hua
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  7. Peter Bucheli
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  8. Linghua Wang
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  9. Yixue Li
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  10. Xiaoyan Pang
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  11. Liping Zhao
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xiaoyan Pang.

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Communicated by Erko Stackebrandt.

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Shen, J., Zhang, B., Wei, H. et al. Assessment of the modulating effects of fructo-oligosaccharides on fecal microbiota using human flora–associated piglets. Arch Microbiol 192, 959–968 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-010-0628-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-010-0628-y

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